The Living and The Dead
by Paigeypie96
Summary: A Corpse Bride fanfic. Victoria/Emily. Don't like slash? Don't read it. Rated M for slash and maybe later chapters. Basically a retelling of the movie, with the pairing Victoria/Emily instead of Victor/Emily or Victor/Victoria.
1. Not Always According to Plan

**Author's Forward: **Alright, this is basically the same as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. The thing is, I've switched Victor and Victoria's places. I'm rewritting the movie in fanfic form as what I think it would be like if Victoria "married" Emily. All characters and settings belong to Tim Burton, who is the most amazing man on the planet (besides maybe Johnny Depp, but I don't like HIM for his creativity!!). If you don't like slash, I suggest you back this tractor trailer up and go find another fanfiction to read. Nasty reviews will not be tolerated, and they WILL be deleted. This story was written for entertainment purposes only, and I am recieving no profit for it. If you haven't seen Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, you really should. It's a great movie and I love it. I highly suggest it to anyone and everyone. Enjoy, guys! (I'd like to thank the lovely Rainbow Girl {but she'll PROBABLY never read this}, because she was my inspiration even if she didn't know it. :P)

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**The Living and The Dead (Corpse Bride)**

Victoria Everglot sat listlessly at her makeup stand as Hildegard laced her corset. "Oh, Hildegard! What if Victor and I don't—" she took a sharp intake of breath as the corset became extremely tight, "like each other?" She looked at the image of the maid she'd come to know and trust over the years with a saddened expression.

"Ha!" exclaimed a voice at the doorway. Victoria snapped her head towards the noise to find her mother and father—Mr. and Mrs. Everglot—standing there. "As if that has anything to do with marriage! Do you suppose your father and I _like _each other?"

"Surely, you must…a little," Victoria said in a feathery light voice.

Mr. and Mrs. Everglot looked at each other in disbelief, and then back to their daughter. "Of course not!" the replied forcefully.

Mrs. Everglot turned to Hildegard. "Get those corsets laced properly. I can hear you speak without gasping," she ordered as her and her husband walked away from the door.

Victoria closed her eyes and sighed gently. She resisted the urge to slump her shoulders, for it wasn't "ladylike".

"Oh, Miss Victoria, I'm sure everything will work out fine," Hildegard reassured her as she began to redo the corset laces.

Victoria sat in silence until Hildegard had finished and walked out of the room to go "tidy up." She tried to fill her lungs with air, but found she couldn't. The walls of the corset constricted her lungs and allowed her minimal air. It was all she could do to resist coughing and ripping the blasted thing off, but such a thing wouldn't be ladylike.

The youngest Everglot got to her feet and slid a maroonish red dress over her body. It billowed out at the bottom and clung tightly to her top. Puffs of fabric adorned the shoulders and vertical stripes ran down the dress all around.

She paused. She could hear her parents greeting their guests and welcoming them into the Everglot's empty home. She took a last look into her mirror. With a half-approving glance, she smoothed her hair in the perfectly round bun Hildegard had put up.

A most beautiful noise coming from downstairs startled her. She wasn't used to hearing such things in the household. The sudden sweetness of the sound caused her to gasp out. The brunette woman decided to investigate the noise.

Victoria walked out of her room and down the hall that lead to the grand staircase. She trailed her hand along the rail, and peered over as she walked at the man that she was sure was her husband-to-be. She paused at the top stair momentarily before continuing down.

Her dress trailed slightly behind her and she was careful not to trip. Silent, except for the light clicking of her heels, she stood behind Victor Van Dort. Victoria put her hands behind her back and observed her fiancé play the grand piano.

She inched closer and stood beside him. He looked over at her once, and then did a double take. With a startled yelp, he jumped up and knocked the piano bench over. The small flower vase on the piano spun madly. Victor scrambled to stop the spinning. With both of his hands on the vase, he looked up at Victoria.

"Do forgive me," he said.

"You play beautifully," Victoria complimented with a small smile.

Victor shook his head and stood upright. "I'm so sorry, Miss Everglot. How rude of me to—um, well…" He rubbed his hands together then looked down to the toppled over bench. He stooped down with an "Excuse me" and sat it upright once more.

"Mother won't let me near the piano," Victoria stated. "Music is…improper…for a young lady." She gave a roll of her eyes to accompany her small smile. "Too passionate, she says."

"If I may ask, M-Miss…Everglot, where is your ch-chaperone?"

"Perhaps…in view of the circumstances, you could call me Victoria," she said as she took a few steps closer to her fiancé.

"Heh…yes, of course. Um…Victoria?" he mumbled as he wrenched his necktie between his hands nervously.

"Yes, Victor…?" she asked sweetly.

"Tomorrow we are to be…m-m—"

"Married," she finished for him with an encouraging smile.

"Yes, heh, m-married." He looked down at the floor and refused to make eye contact with Victoria.

Victoria caressed the top of the piano softly before sitting down on the bench. "Ever since I was a child, I've dreamt of my wedding day," she pointed out. "I always hoped to find someone I was deeply in love with. Someone to spend the rest of my life with. Silly, isn't it?" she replied dishearteningly. She looked up with Victor with a false smile. Sadness was brimming in her eyes.

"Yes, silly. Heh…" he replied without thinking. Realization dawned on him as his eyes widened. "No! No! Not at all! No…" he amended as he leaned on his elbow. With a solid clatter of glass against wood, the flower vase fell over and leaked a bit of water onto the piano top. "Oh! Oh dear! I'm sorry!" he apologized frantically as Victoria picked up the discarded flower and the vase.

With a smile, Victoria smelled the flower and handed it to Victor, who gave her a love struck gaze in return as he took it.

"What impropriety is this?!" Mrs. Everglot exclaimed with disgust as she walked into the room. "You shouldn't be _alone _together! Here it is, one minute before five and you're not at the rehearsal!"

Victoria looked down guiltily, and then looked over to Victor who was doing the same.

"Master Galswells is waiting, come at once!" With that said, she turned and walked away from the two.

~X Three Hours Later X~

"Master Van Dort," Father Galswells sighed, "from the beginning…again! 'With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup shall never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine.' Let's try it again."

Victoria sighed and shook her head gently. This wedding was a mistake.

"Yes, sir," Victor mumbled. "With _this _candle…" He held it to the lit one, but the wick wouldn't catch the flame. "_This _candle…" he repeated as he tried again, but to no avail. "This candle…" he murmured in defeat as he tried once more.

"Shall I get up there and do it for 'im?" Mrs. Van Dort asked her husband.

"Don't get all aflutter, dear," replied Mr. Van Dort.

Mr. and Mrs. Everglot just glared at Victor and Victoria could understand their impatience and anger. This marriage was apparently the only way to keep them out of the poor house.

Victoria resisted the urge to grind her teeth. Such a thing wouldn't be ladylike of her. She didn't appreciate being married off as an excuse to gain more money.

Her drifting thoughts were snapped back into place as Father Galswells cleared his throat and stamped his staff on the floor, waiting for Victor to continue.

With his candle alight, Victor let out a small titter. He stood erect once more. "With _this _candle…!" He giggled slightly and blew out the flame.

"Ugh!" Father Galswells groaned. "Continue!" he ordered.

Before Victor could speak, a loud _gong _sounded. "Get the door," Mr. Everglot ordered his butler.

"Let's just pick it up at the candle bit," Father Galswells groaned.

"A Lord Barkis, Sir?" the butler asked Mr. Everglot as he handed him a card that read "Lord Barkis Bittern".

A very smarmy looking man entered the room. A snarl graced his face. "I haven't a head for dates," he said in a smug voice. Apparently, I'm a day early for the ceremony."

Mrs. Everglot took the card as Mr. Everglot leaned over. "Is he from your side of the family?" he whispered.

"I can't recall," she whispered back. "A seat for Lord Barkis," she ordered her butler.

The butler swiftly put a chair under Lord Barkis as he was sitting down, and then retreated to stand beside the door once more.

Victor and Victoria looked at Lord Barkis with confusion written on their ashen faces. "DO carry on," Barkis encouraged.

"Let's try it…AGAIN, shall we, Mr. Van Dort?"

"Yes. Yes, Sir," Victor replied as Victoria lit his candle for him. He raised his left hand.

"Right!" Father Galswells snapped.

"Right," Victor agreed.

"No!"

"Right!" Victor said with realization as he switched hands. "With this…this…this…"

"Hand…!" Father Galswells said with exasperation.

"With this _hand_…I will…" he said as he took four steps forward. "Umph!" he grunted as he ran into the white clothed table.

"Oh!" Victoria gasped as she covered her mouth with her free hand.

"Three steps! Three! Can you not count?! Do you not wish to be married, Master Van Dort?!" Father Galswells screamed.

"No! No…"

"You do not?" Victoria asked with a little shock, anger, and a bit of hope.

"No! I meant no, I do not not wish to be married. That is I want very much…"

He squealed as Father Galswells hit him over the head with his staff. "Pay attention! Have you even remembered to bring…the ring?"

"The ring? Yes. Of course," Victor stammered as he searched his jacket's inner pockets.

Mr. Van Dort gave his wife a thumb up sign as if to say "got him covered." Victor pulled out the ring and held it between his thumb and his index finger. He squeezed a little too hard, for the ring popped out from between his fingers and rolled under Mrs. Everglot's dress.

Victor made a dive for the ring and stuck his hand under Victoria's mother's dress. Mrs. Everglot's mouth formed an "O" of shock as Victor stood back up with the ring in his hand.

"Dropping the ring! This man does not wish to be married!" Father Galswells accused with disgust. In Victor's actions, he had dropped his alit candle onto Mrs. Everglot's dress. The dress caught flame and Mr. Everglot jumped from his seat and pushed Victor out of the way, causing him to drop the ring again.

"Out of the way, you ninny!" Mr. Everglot bellowed.

Victoria let out an anguished yelp and ran for the door, picking up the ring as she went by. She didn't stay long enough to see Barkis put the flame out easily with a glass of red wine. Out the door she ran and she didn't look back. Victor watched her go with shame, not daring to stop her.


	2. Waiting For Someone To Ask For Her Hand

Victoria leaned against a rail of a stone bridge and sobbed quietly. "I just want to forget this all. This day couldn't get any worse," she cried to herself.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! Rehearsal in ruins as Van Dort boy causes chaos! Fishy fiancé could be canned! Everglots all fired up as Van Dort disaster ruins rehearsal!" the town crier cried.

"Ugh!" Victoria huffed as she threw her hands up in the air and walked towards the woods for some peace and quiet.

"It really shouldn't be all that difficult for Victor!" she huffed as her corset constricted her lungs. "It's just a few simple vows!" She continued to walk on until she was in a small clearing surrounded by trees on all sides. A few stumps and leafless trees occupied the clearing. Branches and roots littered the ground. She was warm with anger, despite the snow-covered ground and ice all around her.

She sat down on one sturdy-looking stump and held the ring in the palm of her hand. "I'll bet I could do the vows," she murmured. With determination, she stood. "With this hand, I will lift your sorrows." She raised the ring in her right hand. "Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine." She flicked the ring in the air and caught it with ease, which was more than she could say for Victor. "With this candle," she said as she snapped a twig off a branch and held it to another as if lighting a candle, "I will light your way in darkness." She walked over to a branch jutting out of the ground that somewhat resembled a hand and kneeled beside it. "With this ring…I ask you…to be mine…" she finished as she slipped the ring onto the branch.

She looked away from the branch as a cold wind began to blow and crow calls sounded all around the clearing. While she wasn't looking, the branch twitched and made a cracking noise. Crows were everywhere, and Victoria was becoming quite frightened.

Suddenly the branch, now looking like a skeletal hand, shot forward and grabbed Victoria's arm, causing her to gasp in terror. The hand pulled her complete arm up to the shoulder underground before she tried to pull away. The crows all around her took flight as she struggled against the hand. Suddenly, the arm snapped and sent Victoria falling back on her bum.

She looked at the arm still attached to hers and screamed in terror as she flung it off. The ground started to shift, break, and rumble as another arm emerged. Only, this one was covered in soft blue flesh. With a deathly aura, a corpse bride clawed her way out of the ground and stood before Victoria.

The corpse bride was adorned in a white wedding dress that was worn and torn. It looked as if it had once been very beautiful, but had spent years rotting underground. The same could be said about her veil. It was long and tattered. There was a hole in the right side of the corpse's midsection, revealing some ribs. Although, the feminine shape still struck Victoria as beautiful. One leg of the corpse was revealed by a slit in the dress's side. The leg was skeletal.

With a sweeping motion, the bride pulled back her veil revealing a beautiful blue face. The corpse bride's hair was knotted together and disheveled, somewhat akin to blue rope. Her heavy-lidded eyes were dark and gorgeous. Her left cheek was missing, and you could see into her mouth and some teeth. She took a gasping breath before saying in a ghostly sweet voice, "I do."

Victoria gasped as the corpse bride came closer to her and seemed to be reaching out for her. She scrambled backwards and clumsily got to her feet before turning and fleeing. Her hair was now half down from the fall, while the rest of the bun looked extremely messy. Her mother would be so disappointed in her. Hildegard had spent many hours working to get a perfect bun.

The skeletal hand behind Victoria now flipped over and began clawing its way towards her. The corpse bride picked it up as she calmly walked by—in pursuit of Victoria.

As Victoria topped a hill, she looked back over her shoulder. She realized this to be a mistake as she took a plunging fall and rolled down the hill. Her head hitting a gravestone stopped her and she groaned in slight pain. She had no time to stay there because the corpse bride was gaining on her quickly. Again, she scrambled to her feet and took flight.

She soon topped another hill, but skidded across a creek frozen solid. She almost lost her footing, but was able to catch herself. With another glance behind her, she realized that the bride was right behind her. She yelped and ran as fast as she could manage back to the bridge. Crows flew at her as she set foot on the bridge.

Once she was halfway across, she stopped momentarily to catch her breath and looked back towards the forest. She didn't see her chaser and so she thought she was safe. She slumped over and sighed a sigh of relief as her eyes fluttered shut.

When she opened her eyes again, she gasped in horror. The corpse bride was standing right in front of her. With shocking realization, it dawned on her that she actually wasn't afraid of the dead beauty… Her brain fought the urge to give in to the thought, screaming that she SHOULD be afraid.

The corpse bride stepped closer to her and put her hands—one skeletal and one a fleshy blue—on her shoulders. "You may kiss the bride…" the corpse whispered as she leaned in.

The next thing Victoria felt were death cold lips being pressed against hers. She found herself unable to push the bride away or kiss back as everything went black and she fell into the corpse's arms in an unconscious heap.


	3. When Out of The Blue

Victoria slowly opened her eyes and groaned softly. _"What the…?" _she thought. Her vision was obscured by a lovely blue corpse and a skeletal man with a pipe and a mustache. He was holding a mug of what appeared to be beer.

"A new arrival!" the skeletal man announced.

The corpse bride leaned closer to Victoria with a concerned look etched across her blue hued face. "You must've fainted…" she fretted. "Are you alright?" she asked as she put a hand behind Victoria's head and helped prop her up.

"What…?" Victoria grumbled; still in a groggy state. She hadn't yet realized that she was surrounded by death. "What happened…?" she asked as she laid her eyes on the bride.

"By Joe, man! Looks like we've got ourselves a breather!" the skeletal man said.

A short and stubby little blue woman with frizzled hair and a chef's hat pushed the man away and stepped in front of Victoria. "Ooh! Does she have a dead brother?"

A tiny little skeletal boy pushed the woman out of the way and poked Victoria's corset laden stomach. "She's still soft!" he remarked in disappointment.

Victoria backed away a little, but found that she wasn't really afraid. Before she knew it, her back bumped against a bar, and she let out a grunt with the minor impact.

A midget on a table adorned in a blue suit had a knife sticking through him. He raised his mug and clinked it with a taller man's (who was adorned in a red army suit). "A toast then!" he called. He downed his mug and the red suited man pulled out the sword and caught the beer as it went down the little man's throat. "To the newlyweds."

"Newlyweds?" Victoria asked the corpse bride.

"Oh! In the woods, you said your vows _so _perfectly!" the corpse bride complimented as she spun around Victoria. Then she held out her skeletal hand and wiggled her fingers slightly to display the wedding band still on her finger. Victoria's eyes widened.

"I did?" she asked in that whispery sweet voice. "I did!" she whispered to herself as she slapped her hand against her forehead. With a sad sigh, she reached behind her and let her hair fall flat. It was a wavy brown and came just past her shoulders. It framed her face ever-so nicely.

The corpse bride looked on at her wife with a love struck gaze. Victoria cupped her own face in her hands and rubbed her eyes gently.

"Bonjour!" a French accented voice greeted.

Victoria let her hands fall back to her sides and looked in the general direction of the voice. On the counter, scurrying closer to her was a severed head. Under the severed head were many bug legs that were carrying it. "Coming through! Coming through! My name is Paul. I am ze head waiter," he explained with a giggle. "I will be creating your wedding feast!"

Victoria looked back at her apparent corpse bride with a confused look just in time to see the bride's eye pop out. A little green maggot poked its head out of her eye socket and declared, "Wedding feast? I'm salivating!"

Victoria gasped in shock as the corpse bride shoved her eye back in place with a tiny titter. "Maggots…" she laughed.

Victoria took a step backwards only to run into another man. "Hey!" the man griped.

"I'm so very sorry," Victoria apologized.

The dead were…friendly, she realized. She turned to look at the man she'd ran into, and when she saw his decomposing form, she backed up into the bride accidentally.

"Oh, my! I apologize," Victoria spoke softly. Her mind then changed tracks. "I want some questions…now!"

"Answers…I think you mean answers," the dwarf who was still standing on the table corrected.

"Thank you. Yes, answers," Victoria amended. She took the bride's skeletal hand in hers and held up the bony ring finger. "How exactly did this happen?" Victoria asked softly.

The corpse's eyes widened, and then she looked at the ground with a rather anguished look written across her face. "Well, that's kind of a long story…" Victoria released the bride's hand. She looked into those dark, gorgeous eyes with a small encouraging smile and a slight nod of the head.

"But what a story it is!" said a new, rough voice. Victoria's head snapped in the direction of yet another new voice. What she saw didn't surprise her. It was a complete skeleton with extreme under-bite. He had one eye and one empty socket. He was wearing a hat that was tilted at an angle like a jazz player's might have been. He was leaning against a wall and a single spotlight was resting on him. "A tragic tale of romance, passion, and a murder most foul," he continued.

"This is gonna be good," the midget predicted excitably.

The skeletal man known as Bonejangles snapped his fingers towards the band and ordered, "Hit it, boys."

Piano music began to play as Bonejangles used other skeletons for instruments and began to sing.

"_Hey! Give me a listen, you corpses of cheer.  
Leastles of you who still got an ear.  
I'll tell you a story; make your skeleton cry  
of our own jubiliciously lovely corpse bride."_

The band that was known as the "Bone Boys" began to sing what Victoria guessed to be the chorus.

"_Die, die. We all pass away.  
Don't wear a frown, because it's really okay.  
You might try to hide  
and you might try to pray...  
But we all end up the remains of the day.  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."_

Bonejangles picked back up.

"_Well, our girl was a beauty known for miles around  
when a mysterious stranger came into town.  
He was plenty good lookin', but a little down on his cash  
and our poor little baby, she fell hard and fast.  
But her daddy said no.  
She just couldn't cope.  
So our lovers came up with a plan to elope!"_

The chorus rang out again followed by an instrumental segment. Then Bonejangles began to sing the next verse. Victoria stood transfixed by the story unfolding in her imagination. She unconsciously moved closer to the corpse bride.

"_So they conjured up a plan to meet late at night.  
They told not a soul; kept the whole thing tight.  
Now her mother's wedding dress fit like a glove.  
You don't need much when you're really in love.  
Except for a few things, or so I'm told...  
Like the family jewels and a satchel of gold.  
Then next to the graveyard at an old oak tree  
on a dark, foggy night at a quarter till three  
she was ready to go…but where was he?"_

The Bone Boys asked, "And then?"

"She waited," Bonejangles replied.

"And then?"

"There in the shadows, was it the man?" Bonejangles asked as his voice grew in pitch.

"And then?"

"Her little heart beat _so _loud!"

"And then?"

"And then, baby, everything went black."

"_Now when she opened her eyes, she was dead as dust.  
Her jewels were missing and her heart was bust.  
So she made a vow lyin' under that tree  
that she'd wait for her true love to come set her free.  
Always waitin' for someone to ask for her hand  
when out of the blue comes this groovy young woman,  
who vows forever to be by her side.  
And that's the story of our…Corpse…Bride…!"_

The chorus was sung a couple of more times before the song finally ended.

Victoria stood rooted to the spot. She'd been murdered… That poor corpse bride had been unjustly killed, and her murderer was probably still out there somewhere. Feeling her heart swell with emotion for the girl, Victoria stood close by the side of the dead bride. She reached out and took the girl's skeletal hand in her own and held it tight.

The bride gave Victoria's hand a small squeeze in return and her frown turned into a small smile. Everyone around them watched with a smile as they were sure their beloved Corpse Bride had found her love at last.


	4. Comes This Groovy Young WOman

Back in the Land of the Living, Victor stood at the window in the Everglot's empty house, looking outside for his missing fiancée. "Victor, dear, come away from the window," Mrs. Van Dort ordered. With a sigh, Victor did as he was told, going to stand beside his mother and father.

Mr. and Mrs. Everglot were sitting on a couch opposite the Van Dorts. Mr. Everglot was eating a coffee cake, while Mrs. Everglot was having a touch of tea. They didn't seem the least bit worried about their daughter.

Their heads all snapped up when a knock sounded at the doors. "Enter," Mr. Everglot ordered.

Victors hopeful expression turned to a frown of disappointment as Lord Barkis entered the room.

"Ah, Lord Barkis, I trust the room was to your liking?" Mrs. Everglot asked.

"Thank you. You are a very gracious hostess," Barkis said in a smarmy tone. He walked towards the Everglots. "This is why it pains me to be the bearer of such…bad news…" He leaned closer to Mr. and Mrs. Everglot. He snapped his fingers and the town crier waddled in.

"Would you care to repeat tonight's headline for us?" Barkis asked.

The crier raised his bell and began crying, "Hear ye! Hear ye! Mistress Victoria Everglot seen this night on the bridge in the arms of a mystery woman! The dark haired temptress and Mistress Everglot slipped away into the night! And now for the weather—"

"That will be enough," Barkis cut off.

"Mystery _woman?!_" Mrs. Everglot screamed in outright anger. "Victoria isn't some…some…queer!"

"Or so you thought," Barkis countered evenly. "Do call if you require my assistance in any way." With that said he walked out of the room and closed the double doors behind him.

Everyone in the room sat in a stony silence; their mouths agape in horror and shock. It was Mrs. Everglot who broke the silence. "Good heavens, what should we do?" she cried in distress.

"Fetch me musket! We'll get that blasted temptress and bring our daughter back home where she _will _be married…to a _gentleman_!"

"This is a most scandalous embarrassment for us all…" Mrs. Everglot murmured. "Gather a search party. They have till dawn to find her!"

~X In the Land of The Dead X~

Victoria and the corpse bride were walking side by side through the town square. Victoria still held a grip on the corpse's skeletal hand. "I'm sorry about your…erm…" Victoria trailed off because she didn't know how to say it.

"It's alright. It's in the past now…" the bride replied.

"You seem like a lovely girl. You didn't deserve such…a horrible thing," Victoria continued as she stroked her thumb over the back of the bride's bony hand.

The beautiful corpse giggled slightly as she brought her other hand up to cover her mouth. "Thank you."

They continued walking until they were at a ledge overlooking the entire town. When they were at the top, the corpse let go of Victoria's hand and twirled around. "Isn't it beautiful? It takes my breath away!" She began walking towards a bench, but stopped when she realized what she had said. "Well, it would if I had any," she joked with a laugh. "Isn't it romantic?" She sat down on the wooden bench and patted the space beside her. Victoria obliged to her "bride's" wish and walked over to sit beside of her.

Victoria sighed and decided to get this over with. "I'm really sorry about what happened to you, and I'd like to help, but I really have to get home," she said in her wispy voice.

"This is your home now," the corpse bride pointed out.

"I don't even know your name," Victoria countered.

_"That's a great way to start a marriage…" _a voice inside the dead bride's hair mumbled.

"Shut up! Shut up!" she growled at it as she pounded her head with her palms. She looked back to Victoria with a little "hmm" and smiled at her. Victoria was looking at the bride with a rather funny look. It seemed to ask if she was completely insane. "It's Emily," the bride stated.

"Emily…" Victoria rolled the name over her tongue. "That's a beautiful name. It fits you perfectly."

"Oh! I almost forgot. I've got something for you," Emily announced with a smile as she bent over and picked up a little box. She put it in Victoria's lap and whispered nonchalantly, "It's a wedding present."

Victoria smiled because the gesture was sweet and she found herself growing quite fond of _her _corpse bride. She picked the box up from her lap and gave it a little shake.

A look of concern crossed Emily's face.

Victoria opened the box and gasped at its contents. She gingerly picked up a bone from the inside and held it aloft. "Thank you," she said politely. Her eyes grew wide as the box began to shake. She dropped the bone back in and tried to hold the lid on. The box fell out of her lap and all of the contents spilled out onto the ground. They were all bones.

The bones began to form into something. An animal of some type. Emily looked on with a smile as Victoria's eyes glowed with recognition. The assembled pile of bones let out a barking yap. It picked up a red collar in its mouth and brought it over to Victoria's feet.

She took the collar in her hand and read the tag aloud. "Patches…" The bone dog barked in excitement and wagged his tail.

Patches jumped up into Victoria's lap as she caressed his head and scratched his spine. When she did this, his leg began kicking as all dogs' did. Emily let out a sweet laugh and continued to watch the sight in front of her.

"My mother never approved of Patches jumping up like this. She said it wasn't ladylike of me to have a filthy mutt wallowing all over me, but then again…she never approved of anything," Victoria explained as Patches jumped off her lap.

Emily put her hand over Victoria's. "He's such a cutie."

"You should've seen him when he had fur," Victoria laughed. "Thank you, Emily." She leaned over and gave her deceased bride a quick peak on the intact cheek.

Emily felt that if she could've blushed, she would've at that moment. For the first time in years, a slight warmth and tingle spread throughout her body, and her silent heart seemed to swell. _"How lucky am I that it was her who asked me to marry her?" _she thought.

"Victoria, do you think your mother would've approved of me?" Emily asked as she put her hand on the small of Victoria's back.

"You're lucky that you'll never have to meet her," Victoria admitted as she continued to caress Patches absentmindedly. A small smile grew on Victoria's face. "Well, actually…now that you mention it, I think you should." Patches jumped off of Victoria's lap and raced around in a circle as he chased his skeletal tail.

Emily let out a pleasant "hmm" of consideration.

"In fact, since we're married, you should definitely meet her…and my father, too! We should go and see them right now!" Victoria got up and paced in front of Emily, who soon stood too.

She hugged Victoria gently and replied, "Oh, what a fantastic idea! Where are they buried?"

Victoria turned away from her wife and looked down to the cobblestone ground. Emily put a comforting hand on Victoria's shoulder. "What? What is it?" she asked gently.

"Erm…they're not…from around here," Victoria admitted as she ran a hair through her brunette locks.

"What?" Emily asked with some confusion.

To make her point, Victoria pointed skywards.

"Oh! They're still alive…"

"I'm afraid so."

"Hmm, well that is a bit of a problem," Emily said.

Patches began to bark enthusiastically at Emily. "What's that, Patches? Oh, no! We couldn't possibly. Oh…well…if you put it like that…"

"What?" Victoria asked in a daze.

"Elder Gutknecht," Emily whispered in reply.


	5. Who Vows Forever To Be By Her Side

Emily and Victoria walked up a winding set of stairs as they made their way to the top of the tower. Patches lead their way; yapping excitedly with every step. "Shush, Patches!" Emily ordered in a whisper. "Elder Gutknecht? Are you there? Hello? Anyone home? Hello?" Emily asked as she walked around the top room that was covered in books.

Victoria followed close behind Emily, not really feeling safe up so high.

A murder of crows flew away from a light, squawking loudly as they took flight. Victoria gasped and swallowed back a scream. "It's alright, Victoria," Emily soothed.

"Y-yeah…"

A skeletal hand reached up to steady the swaying light. The hand was attached to a skeletal arm, which was attached to an old skeletal figure. The skeleton had a crack in his skull and a long, white beard growing from his chin. He looked frail and incapable of much as he coughed.

"Ah, there you are!" Emily said happily.

The figure put on a pair of spectacles and looked at Emily. "Oh, there _you _are, my dear."

"I've brought my wife—Victoria," Emily introduced.

"How do you do?" Victoria asked quietly.

"What's that? _Wife_?" he asked as he scratched his skull.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir," Victoria called up as she took Emily's skeletal hand in her own. Emily looked at her wife with a small smile and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Emily returned her gaze back to Elder Gutknecht. "We need to go…err…upstairs," Emily stated as she pointed skyward. "To visit the Land of the Living."

Elder Gutknecht kept scratching his skull in confusion. "Land of the Living?" he asked. "Oh, my dear…" he said as he walked down towards them, grabbing a book along the way.

"_Please_, Elder Gutknecht," Emily pleaded.

"Now, why go up there when people are dying to get down here?" he asked.

"Sir, I beg you to help. It would mean so much to us," Victoria added.

"I don't know. It's just not natural," Elder Gutknecht pointed out as he moved the cracked flap of his skull as he scratched.

"Please, Elder Gutknecht?" Emily asked taking his hand in her own. "Surely there must be something you can do?"

He put his other hand over hers affectionately and replied, "Let me see what I can do. Where did I put that book?" He walked towards a particularly large bookshelf and tossed books about, looking for a certain one. Emily and Victoria had to dodge discarded books.

"Ah! There's the one!" he announced as he pulled a large, scarlet colored book from the shelf. He blew a cloud of dust off the front cover and he gathered ingredients.

When he was back at his stand, he put the various bottles and book down with a clatter. He opened the book and turned to a certain page. "I have it," he remarked. Emily drew a sharp intake of breath. "A Ukrainian Haunting Spell; just the thing for these quick trips!"

Emily leaned closer to Victoria and whispered, "So glad you thought of this." Victoria smiled and put her arm around Emily's waist.

Elder Gutknecht prepared a drink that somewhat resembled red wine. Victoria thought that was the spell he'd been talking about, but she stood corrected when he drank it himself. "Now then," he said, "where were we?"

Emily and Victoria exchange a small glance. "The Ukrainian Haunting Spell," Emily reminded him.

"Aha!" he said as he picked up a nearby crow that let out a loud squawk. He squeezed its midsection until a large egg dropped out. Victoria made a grimace of slight disgust. He let the crow fly away and picked the egg up. "Here we have it. Ready? Just remember, when you want to come back say 'Hopscotch'."

"Hopscotch?" Emily asked with a giggle.

"That's it." He cracked the egg on his table corner and held it over Emily's and Victoria's heads. As he pulled the shell apart, a golden and sparkling power fell over them, taking them to the Land of the Living.

~X In The Land of The Living X~

Emily and Victoria looked around. Behind them was the oak tree that Emily had been murdered at. She took a sharp intake of breath. "Oh. I've spent so long in the darkness, I'd almost forgotten how beautiful the moonlight is," she said as she blinked back tears.

Victoria smiled at her wife as a beautiful butterfly fluttered past. With a sigh, Emily began twirling around the small clearing gracefully. Victoria watched her as she felt her heart swell again for the corpse bride.

Emily circled around Victoria once and then twirled off in another direction. Due to not looking at the ground, Emily tripped over a jutting up root. She fell to the ground face-first and her skeletal leg snapped off.

"Oh, Emily! Are you alright?" Victoria asked as she ran to Emily's side. She held out her hand towards her wife, who eagerly took it and pulled herself up. Victoria giggled slightly as Emily leaned heavily against her.

The green maggot from before poked its head out of Emily's ear. "Hey, I think you dropped something," it pointed out.

With Victoria's help, Emily hobbled back to her leg and reattached it with a cracking noise. Emily immediately resumed her twirling and she went around Victoria once more.

Laughing, Victoria put her hands on Emily's shoulders and spun around with her for a moment, before stopping them both. "Wait, wait. I think we should go see them now."

"Perfect!" Emily agreed. "You lead the way, Victoria."

"Are you ready for this, Emily?"

"Absolutely," she replied eagerly.

"Alright, then. This way, darling." Victoria laced her fingers with Emily's blue ones as they began walking out of the woods toward town.

~X~

Emily and Victoria were approaching the huge wooden doors that lead to the inside of the Everglots' home. Victoria spun her bride gently towards her. "Okay, Emily. This is going to be a bit of a shock to them, but remember, we're in this together," Victoria cooed with a smile.

Emily gazed into her bride's eyes lovingly. With her skeletal hand, she reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair behind Victoria's ear. "As long as I'm with you, it will be alright."

Victoria grinned and then leaned in to place a soft and quick peck on Emily's cold, blue lips. She then turned to face the door and brushed the ripped sleeves of her dress off. Attentively, she raised her hand and rapped gently on the door.


	6. WHO Vowed Forever?

A voice coming from inside drowned out Victoria's knock and startled her. It was a voice she'd recognize anywhere. It was the gruff voice of her father. "—if ever I see that 'mistress' woman, I'll strangle her with my bare hands!" he vowed.

Another voice sounded and Victoria recognized her mother. "You're hands are too fat, and her neck will be too thin." The click of locks sliding into place shocked Victoria further. "You'll have to use rope." The voices faded as Victoria backed away from the door to stand once again in front of Emily.

"Well, there's been a slight…change of plan," she confessed.

"How slight?" Emily asked, fearing the worst.

"Not much. We just have to tell my good friend, Victor, to give my parents the news for us. They're not too pleased with me at the moment."

"Oh, I understand. Where is Victor?" Emily asked gently, eyeing her wife with a questioning look.

"Stay here, Emily," Victoria gave as a reply.

Victoria shuffled her feet towards a nearby window. A look inside revealed a very distraught Victor, pacing to and fro. She gently rapped on the window to get his attention, throwing a smiling glance over her shoulder to her wife. On the inside, Victor jumped like a startled housecat and let out an audible gasp.

He looked to the window and drew in a sharp intake of breath. A small smile graced his face as he ran over to the window to open it for Victoria.

Lifting her small frame over the sill without Victor's help, she climbed into the house and out of the cold. Closing the window behind her, she let out a small sigh and leaned against it. She could feel Victor's eyes scanning her for any sign of injury.

"Victoria…" he whispered.

"Victor."

"I'm so h-happy to s-s-see you. Come sit by the fire. You're c-colder than d-d-death," he stammered. He felt awkward inviting her to sit down in her own home. "Where've you been? Are you a-alright?"

Victoria looked at him with wide eyes. "I…I…. Oh, my."

"What's happened to you? Your dress…," he pointed out.

Absentmindedly, Victoria brushed off her ripped sleeves. "Victor, I confess…. This morning, I did not want to marry you at all." Victor suddenly looked at her as if he were shell shocked and shaken. "But, upon meeting you and hearing you play the piano so beautifully…I thought that perhaps it could work."

"I must confess as well. This morning, I was absolutely terrified of marrying you. However, when I met you, I felt as if I should be with you always and that our wedding could not come soon enough," he interrupted.

"Oh, Victor," she sighed with hurt in her dark eyes. "You didn't let me finish…" she whispered.

~ X Meanwhile X ~

Emily stooped to sit down on the stairs leading up to the main door where Victoria had left her. She heaved a heavy sigh. From inside her head—in the annoyingly familiar voice of her maggot—she heard, "_This is the voice of your conscious. Listen to what I say._" She straightened and let a puzzled, anxious look grace her blue features. "_I have a bad feeling about that girl._" Emily gave another sigh and rolled her eyes. "_You know she is not—_."

With a look of determination, Emily furiously rapped on her head. With a slight popping noise, the maggot flew from her ear and landed in the snow—a speck of green amongst a sea of white.

"Go chew someone else's ear for awhile. Victoria has got to see her friend. _Just _like she said," she snapped.

"If I hadn't just been sitting in it, I'd say you've lost your mind!" he sighed.

"I'm sure she has a perfectly good reason…for taking so long," Emily defended. She trailed her skeletal hand up and down her intact arm in an uneasy fashion.

"Oh, I'm sure she does!" the maggot snapped sarcastically. "Why don't you go ask her?"  
"Alright, I will."

"After all, I'm sure she'll be eagerly awaiting your arrival," he continued.

Emily swiftly rose from where she sat and quietly made her way to the window where she'd seen Victoria disappear.

~ X In The Everglot's Home X ~

"Victor…," Victoria whispered painfully. "I find myself to be—" She stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Emily easily climbing through the window. With a startled gasp to find she was running so short on time, she grabbed Victor's face between her feminine hands. "…happily married," she finished quietly just as Emily got completely through the window.

The wind outside was blowing furiously and her tattered veil was flipped into her face. "Victoria, darling, I just wanted to meet—," Emily began but stopped as she put her veil back into place and eyed the two who'd sprang up at her surprise arrival.

Victoria saw pain flash through the corpse bride's eyes as Victor gasped and bravely stood in front of Victoria. Suddenly feeling quite guilty for how this must look to her bride, Victoria quickly stepped away from Victor.

Emily stepped toward Victoria and hugged onto her wife's arm gently as she stepped from behind Victor. "Darling, who's this?" she asked with a contemptuous glare at Victor.

"Who's _she_?" Victor asked in shock.

Emily stepped forward and replied in a matter-of-factly manner, "_I'm _her wife." She thrust her hand forward to show Victor the wedding band on her skeletal finger.

"Victoria!" he gasped in disbelief.

"Victor, you don't understand. She is very much my wife, but she's dead. Look." Without thinking, Victoria picked up her wife's hand and shook it. She widened her eyes to emphasize the rattling of bones.

Emily's own eyes grew wide with alarm and hurt. She drew a sharp intake of breath as she yanked her arm away from her wife. Frowning and narrowing her eyes, she moved rigidly away from her and Victor. The open window was blowing allowing a cold breeze into the room, which rustled Emily's wedding veil and made her seem slightly more ominous than Victoria was used to. She narrowed her luscious, dark eyes yet again and muttered, "Hopscotch."

Thunder rang clear and lightning flashed outside as Emily reached out and grabbed Victoria's arm, yanking her harshly towards her.

Victoria let out a startled gasp as Victor threw out his arms for her. "Goodbye, Victor," Victoria whispered as she stretched out her hand for his, but Emily was pulling them away steadily to the Land of the Dead. Crows let out their shrill calls as the angry corpse bride and her guilty wife were dragged back into the Underworld.


	7. All Couples Fight, Right?

**A/N: **Sorry about the interruption in the story flow, but I feel the need to point this out in order to eliminate some confusion. _Italics _in this story can represent a number of things. 1.) Thoughts. 2.) The maggot in Emily's head speaking, but ONLY when he's in her head. 3.) To emphasize some words. 4.) Song lyrics. I hadn't thought of how many songs there were in this film until after I'd started the fanfiction, which is silly, I know because, hey, it's Tim Burton's, right? If I had thought about it, I would've used techniques to make those differ as much as possible. But, unfortunately, I cannot go back and change it because I accidentally deleted the files from my computer and their duration ran out in Document Manager. So, I'm sorry for the inconvience and I give you my best wishes at deciphering this dilema. I also feel as if this chapter is a bit hard to follow, so I may as well apologize for that as well. Haha. Well, on with the story, and happy reading.

(I want to give a special thanks to Platinum Knight and lovettod for their encouraging reviews.)

* * *

A very troubled Victoria opened her eyes to find herself back in the Land of the Dead, facing towards her very upset wife. Emily's dark eyes were narrowed with pain and anger. A fluttering sensation of guilt flared inside Victoria's stomach again as she looked at her beautiful corpse bride.

Emily pushed Victoria away sharply, making her stumble back slightly. "You lied to me!" she exclaimed. She sounded close to tears as she crossed her arms across her chest and continued. "Just to get back to that other…person!" She turned away from her wife and shut her eyes tightly.

"Don't you understand?" Victoria asked softly, as she stepped closer towards her wife. "_You're_ the 'other.'" She timidly reached for the corpse bride's hand, but stopped when Emily shot her a furious look.

"No! You're married to me!" she sobbed, throwing out her hands and putting them over her chest, gesturing to herself. "_He's _the other person!" She cupped her delicate blue face in her hands and turned away from Victoria, crying.

Victoria looked taken aback and crestfallen. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again as tears rolled down her wife's face.

"She's got a point," Elder Gutknecht pointed out; from where he still stood at his alter.

Emily dabbed her tears away with her veil, but continued to weep as she said, "I thought…. I thought…this was all going so well!" Just as she let out a heart wrenching sob, her eye popped out of its socket and fell to the floor, rolling towards Victoria.

Victoria daintily picked it up and wiped it off on her dress. She once again stepped closer towards her wife. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she handed her wife her eye. "I just don't know if this can work…."

"Why not?" Emily snapped as she snatched her eye back and held it close to her chest. She glanced over her shoulder at her wife before looking back down to her eye. "It's my eye, isn't it?"

Victoria smiled slightly and wrapped her arms around her wife, holding her from behind. "No, your eye is lovely," she assured as Emily popped it back into its socket. She released her wife as Emily began to turn towards her.

Fearing that she might lash out again, Victoria began pacing the room with her hands behind her back. "Under different circumstances…well, who knows…? You and I, we're very different. I mean, we're both women and you're…you're dead…," she finished in a whisper.

"Well, you should have thought about that before you asked me to marry you," Emily retorted in a shaky voice. With a defeated sigh, she hung her head and looked down at her feet.

"Why can't you understand? It was a mistake! I would never marry you!" Victoria explained. She gasped as she realized the meaning of her words. She had never meant for it to sound like that. She looked towards her wife, whose mouth was agape.

With a hurt look, Emily closed her mouth and blinked away more tears.

"Emily, I—," Victoria began, but was cut off as the corpse bride sighed and walked away from her with her head down. Victoria stared after her, at a loss for words. She held out her hand for her wife as she descended down the stairs, slowly vanishing from sight. Victoria sighed and knew she had to give her wife some space.

~ X In the Streets of the Land of the Dead X ~

Emily rounded a street corner and threw off her veil. It landed with a slight rustle of fabric on an old, rusted bike. A short distance away from the bike, she gingerly sat down on a bench shaped like a casket. Her hands gripped the edge of the bench tensely. With a sigh, she released her hold on the bench and went to picking at her decayed bouquet.

"Roses…for eternal love," she growled as she ripped the petals from one and threw them to the ground. "Lilies…sweetness," she whispered, sounding close to tears again. She sighed, "Baby's breath…." With another sigh, she threw her bouquet to join her veil, and slumped her shoulders, crossing her hands in her lap.

With a longing glance at her bouquet, she saw Patches sniffing at it timidly. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Why so blue?" a voice asked gently, causing her eyes to fly open and her head to snap towards the sound. She sighed again as she saw a black widow hanging over her shoulder.

"Maybe she's _right_. Maybe we are too different," Emily murmured to the spider.

"_Maybe she should have her head examined_," sounded the maggot inside her head.

With a disgruntled look, Emily pulled the maggot from her ear and held it upside-down between her index finger and her thumb.

"I could do it," he offered.

"Perhaps she does belong with _him_," Emily continued. "Little Mr. _Living_," she said in a mock-macho voice. "With his not-so-rosy cheeks and beating heart." She leaned her head against her hand, holding it up as she closed her eyes and sighed in a defeated manner.

"Oh, those mortals are ten a penny. You've got so much more!" the spider exclaimed. "You've got…you've got…you've got a _wonderful _personality!" The corpse bride eyed the spider with a sarcastic look that said "_Really?_"before shaking her and looking away.

"_What does that wispy little brat have that you don't have double?_" the maggot sang.

"_He can't hold a candle to the beauty of your smile,_" the spider joined in.

"How about a pulse?" Emily asked dejectedly as she put the maggot down on the bench beside her.

"_Overrated by a mile._"

"_Over fathomed._"

"_Overblown."_

"_If she only knew the You that we know,_" they sang simultaneously.

The corpse bride sighed as the spider continued.

"_And that silly little creature isn't wearing _her _ring._" The spider lifted the finger with her wedding band up.

"_And though he may play piano, he doesn't dance or sing._

_No, he doesn't compare._"

"But he still breathes air," Emily stated. She turned her back on the spider and maggot.

"_Who cares?_" they sang as they popped up right where Emily was about to lay her head down.

"_Unimportant._"

"_Overrated._"

"_Overblown._"

"_If only she could see how special _you _can be._

_If she only knew the You that we know._"

Emily slowly got to her feet and stood in front of the bench, not looking at the spider or the maggot.

"_If I touch a burning candle,_

_I can feel no pain._

_If you cut me with a knife,_

_It's all the same._

_And I know his heart is beating._

_And I know that I am dead._"

She walked over to a door near the bench as she sang and leaned her head against it.

"_Yet the pain here that I feel,_

_Try and tell me it's not real._

_And it seems that I still have a tear_

_To shed._"

Emily slid her back down the door until she was sitting on its stoop.

"_The so-redeeming feature from that little creature,_

_Is that he's _alive," the maggot sang with disgust.

"Overrated!" the spider called.

"Overblown!" the maggot agreed.

"_Everybody knows that's just a temporary state,_

_Which is cured very quickly when we meet our fate._"

Patcheswalked up to Emily with her bouquet held between his teeth and laid it at her feet.

"_Who cares?_

_Unimportant._

_Overrated._

_Overblown._

_If only she could see how special _YOU _can be._

_If she only knew the You that we know._"

Emily frowned deeply, and pulled the end of the maggot, who was being held by the spider—who was attached to a string of web—down. When she released him, they both shot up and away from her. She slowly rose to her feet and went back to sit on the bench.

"_If I touch a burning candle,_

_I can feel no pain._

_In the ice or in the sun,_

_It's all the same._"

She brought her legs up onto the bench and laid back.

"_Yet I feel my heart is aching._

_Though it doesn't beat_

_It's breaking._"

The corpse bride crossed her arms over her chest.

"_And the pain here that I feel,_

_Try and tell me it's not real._"

With a saddened look, she uncrossed her arms and turned onto her side.

"_I know that I am dead._

_Yet it seems that I still have some tears_

_To shed._"

A single tear rolled down her face as she closed her eyes and fell to the ground, splashing between where the spider and maggot stood. They gave each other a disheartening look and the little green maggot sighed.

Shaking their heads, they both walked away from the sorrowful corpse bride.


	8. New Arrival With News!

**A/N: **Okay, I'm not sure that I'm quite happy with this chapter. What do you guys think? Should I rewrite it or is it okay as-is? I value your opinions! Help me out here! Haha.

* * *

~ X In the Land of the Living X ~

Rain pelted down and thunder rang as a distressed Victor paced back and forth in front of his parents and the Everglots. "It's true, Mr. and Mrs. Everglot. Your daughter is married to a dead woman. I saw her. A corpse! Standing RIGHT HERE with Victoria," he explained. He waved his hands about frantically as he tried to make them understand what he was saying.

"Victoria was here, and you told no one?!" Mrs. Everglot shrieked with outrage.

"We have to help her!" he insisted as he confronted Victoria's mother.

"Oh, come sit down, deary. You're shakin' like a leaf. Let Hilda fetch ya a blanket," Hildegard offered to Victoria's upset fiancé, taking his hand in hers and leading him to a chair.

"Fetch him a straightjacket!" Mrs. Everglot growled as she slapped Hildegard's hand away from Victor's. "He's completely mad!"

Victor was at a loss for words as Victoria's mother and Hildegard walked away from him, leaving him to his parents.

"Come on, my boy. I think it's time we leave. Perhaps Victoria will show up soon," Mr. Van Dort soothed his son.

"M-maybe you're right. Oh, V-Victoria…," he sighed.

He let his parents lead him from the Everglots' home, but as he was walking out to the carriage, an idea struck him. "I think I'll go for a walk," he told them after they'd completely gotten in.

"In this weather? You'll catch your death," Mrs. Van Dort exclaimed.

"No, I insist, Mother. You and father go on. I'll catch another carriage or I'll walk home," said Victor smoothly.

"Well…don't stay out to long. There might be a wedding tomorrow," Mrs. Van Dort sighed as she gave in.

"Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye, Father," he bade them farewell.

He watched as the carriage rolled away until it was completely out of sight. Already drenched through to the bone, he turned and headed for Father Galswells' temple.

Rain dripped off his coat and hair by the time he arrived at the towering ominous chapel. Walking up to the huge wooden front doors, he grabbed a brass knocker and banged it against the door.

On the inside of the church, Father Galswells walked towards the door holding a candle aloft and sporting a white nightgown and matching hat. "What in the Heaven's name…?" he asked as he approached the door. "Who could that be at this hour?"

He cracked the door open to see a rain-drenched Victor Van Dort.

"Mr. Van Dort? What are you doing here?" he asked in shock. "You should be at home, prostrate with grief!"

"Master Galswells, I…I have to ask you something," he stammered with urgency.

"This is most irregular," he growled as he began closing the door.

"Please!" Victor begged. "I beg of you." He pushed through the doors and into the chapel.

Master Galswells was backing up away from him, but Victor kept pursuing him. "You are the only one in the village who knows of what awaits beyond the grave."

"A grim topic for a groom-to-be," Master Galswells scolded.

"But it is a _bride _I fear. Which is why I must know…can the living marry the dead?"

Master Galswells looked taken aback, and then eyed Victor suspiciously. "What on Earth are you speaking about?" he demanded.

"Please! It's Victoria. She's married to a corpse! She has a _corpse bride_! There must be some way to undo what's been done," he pleaded helplessly.

"Hmm…. I believe I know the thing to do…. Come with me," he ordered as he put out the flame on his candle.

~ X Later X ~

As the door to the Van Dort home opened, Father Galswells held a thrashing Victor Van Dort by the shoulder with a lifeless look on his wrinkled face.

"Victor!" said the shocked voice of his mother. "What's happened?

"He's speaking in tongues of unholy alliances!" Father Galswells exclaimed dramatically. Victor glared at him, but continued to thrash about, trying to be rid of his grip. "His mind has come undone, I fear."

"That's not true! Let me go!" Victor growled. Pastor Galswells released him, and Victor flung into his home, only to be pushed back behind his mother.

"Thank you, Pastor Galswells. Thank you so very much," she said as she closed the door.

As soon as the door was shut completely, Mrs. Van Dort rounded on her son. "Victor, dear, I think it's best for you to go to your bedroom…."

"No, I'm telling the truth!" he argued. "Victoria needs my help!" he growled as his father grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him towards his room.

~ X Later Still X ~

"Oh, it's almost dawn! Where could she be?" one of the members of the search party exclaimed.

"Victoria Everglot elopes with corpse!" the town crier yelled for the entire village to hear. "Heartbroken groom mourns the loss of his bride-to-be!"

The members of the search party that were sent out by Mrs. Everglot sat in Mayhew's carriage, chatting merrily.

"Heartbroken? More like off his rocker," one pointed out, earning several laughs from other members.

"Did he say 'corpse'?" one of the others asked.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous! What _corpse _would marry some stiff like Victoria Everglot?" the third in the party goaded, arousing more laughs from the other two.

A dreadful cough sounded from the carriage driver, causing the passengers to jump like startled housecats. "Mayhew! Silence that blasted coughing!" the first member in the party yelled as he banged on the roof of the carriage.

Mayhew couldn't stop. He continued to cough and wheeze, filling his chest with a painful tightening sensation. With a gasping wheeze, he dropped the reins and clutched at his chest. He then pitched forward off of his seat, lifeless. The passengers in the carriage paid no mind as the carriage hit a large, fleshy bump and then careened on.

"Is he trying to kill us?" the second member of the party asked. "I think he's trying to kill us!"

~ X In the Land of the Dead X ~

Victoria's shoulders slumped as she walked around the Underworld, in search of her upset bride. Patches walked in front of her, carrying Emily's bouquet between his teeth. "Oh, Patches," she sighed. "When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?"

She looked over her shoulder at The Ball & Socket, which was were she'd first woken up in the Land of the Dead. With a smile, she remembered the joy-filled look on Emily's face as she'd told Victoria how well she'd said her vows. Her smile died away as she then remembered the pain in her wife's eyes as she'd pointed out that they were too different.

Patches walked to the mouth of an alley beside The Ball & Socket and laid Emily's flowers down on the ground. With a sigh of longing, Victoria picked them up and held them close to her.

Drawing a slow intake of breath, she decided to venture into The Ball & Socket, hoping to find her wife.

Emily sat on the inside, playing a saddening song on the piano one of the Bone Boys had played on earlier. Sorrow pierced her heart as she hit every note.

Victoria stood on the stairs leading down into the room and watched her wife play the piano beautifully. She was reminded of when she'd first met Victor. He had played beautifully, but something about Emily's playing made hers seem so much more striking.

Now walking up behind her wife as she had done with Victor, she placed her hand on Emily's shoulder. "I…I think you dropped this," she murmured, gesturing to the bouquet.

Emily ignored her and continued playing her grief-filled tune.

Victoria laid the flowers on the back of the piano with a sigh. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry I lied to you about wanting to see my parents. It's just that this whole day hasn't gone quite…well…according to plan," she finished with a titter. She sat down on the piano bench beside her wife, rolling her fingers over the keys gently, not pressing any of them down. She didn't want to disturb her wife's beautifully tragic song. Not to mention the fact that she was utterly clueless about how to play the piano.

"What I'm trying to say, Emily, is that…I've grown…quite fond of you…. And I feel utterly terrible of what I said to you," she whispered, closing her eyes and continuing to run her fingers across the yellowing keys of the piano.

Emily looked towards her with a hard look at first, but it eventually softened to a sweet, understanding smile. She stopped playing the sad tune when her skeletal hand broke off and ran across the keys to Victoria's hand, climbing up her arm and dancing across her shoulders.

The corpse bride let out a soft laugh as Victoria gently grabbed the dancing hand in her own. "Pardon my enthusiasm," Emily giggled.

"I _like _your enthusiasm," she replied as she snapped Emily's skeletal hand back in place and continued to hold it with her own.

Victoria smiled gently at her wife, who smiled back sweetly. A clanging bell broke the moment—startling both of them. They turned their heads simultaneously toward the noise.

"New arrival!" the small woman with frizzled hair and a chef hat from before called out. "New arrival!"

In an instant, the once-quiet Ball & Socket was buzzing with activity as the lively dead prepared to greet the newcomer. Bonejangles and his crew came into the room to play their music. The man's head on the cockroach's legs greeted his guests. "Bonjour!" He muttered something in French to his legs and then shouted, "Free drinks for everyone!"

"Another pint, Sir?" he asked a deceased man who had been cut completely in half. The man broke apart before replying.

"No, no, no, no. Just a half."

The man's head whistled and a pair of cockroaches brought a mug over to the man, running into the waiter and knocking him over.

He growled. "Ugh! It is impossible to get good help!"

The frizzled haired woman made her way through the crowd in a playfully rough manner. "Welcoming committee coming through! Coming through! Move!" She walked up to the newcomer and took his hand in hers. "My name's Plum. _Miss _Plum," she pointed out as she patted the back of his hand with a wink.

"Mayhew?" Victoria asked, clearly puzzled, as she gazed at the newcomer. He'd been the driver that had brought the Van Dorts to her home back in the Land of the Living. "Mayhew!" she called with recognition as she got up from where she sat beside Emily. "It's so nice to see y—." She broke off as he turned around to reveal the pale blue face that was custom to see on the dead.

She let out a gasp as he looked to the ground. "I'm so sorry," she stammered.

"Eh. Fancy, though. I feel _great_!" Mayhew pointed out in a gruff voice. He took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled, stretching his arms as he did so.

The waiter ordered his roaches to pour Mayhew a drink. "'urry up, boys. Can you not see that ze gentleman iz parched?" The roaches did as they were instructed, and Mayhew picked up the mug with a grateful glance at the waiter. He took a sip as Victoria continued on.

"Mayhew, what's going on in the Land of the Living? My parents must be worried sick. How is everyone?" she asked gently.

"Well, they're still wondering where you slipped off to. Oh, and Mr. Victor…"

"Yes! Yes, how is he?" she asked, concerned for her friend.

"Err—well…they're making him out to be a nutter...," Mayhew explained as he finished off his drink.

"What?!" Victoria gasped. "Why!?"

"Because he went to Galswells and told him you'd married a corpse. Now if they find you, your parents are going to make you marry someone else. A Lord Something-Or-Other. Barkis?"

"That's impossible!" she growled. "I'm already married."

"Congratulations, Mrs. Victoria. Well, with Victor being made out to be mad, I guess your parents didn't want to waste the cake…," Mayhew joked with a hoarse laugh.

"How could they…," Victoria whispered.

A drunken skeleton interrupted their conversation. He came up behind Mayhew and put one arm around his shoulders while raising the other, which was holding his mug, in a toast. "Parenz…," he slurred. "You can live wiff 'em…. You can't live wiff…. HICCUP!" The skeleton fell to a crumpled pile of bones on the ground.

"Time to…pick up the pieces…," Mayhew joked, "and…you know, move on, I suppose."

"Oi! Speakin' of pickin' up the pieces…," the skeleton slurred in his drunken manner.

Victoria hung her head and shook it as she walked away from Mayhew and the skeleton.

"Victoria! Where are you going?" Emily called after her. She got up and followed after her wife. Victoria led them out of The Ball & Socket, not feeling in the mood to celebrate. She didn't make it far before tears began spilling out of her eyes.

She stooped down and sat on the stoop of the bar. Emily followed her down and wrapped her arms around her crying wife. "Oh, Emily…. I don't know what to do. If I go back ever, my parents will force me to stay away from you and to marry Lord Barkis. If I stay here, Victor will be accused of being mad and sent to bedlam," Victoria sobbed. She turned herself to where she could lay her head on her wife's shoulder.

Despite the fact that she was dead, Victoria found that Emily smelled like roses and lilies. The smell of flowers filled her nostrils and made them tingle. It was a semi-new smell for her. Her mother had never been fond of her going out into the garden, saying that she would get dirty, and dirt was no such thing for a young lady of her stature.

"Don't cry, Victoria. We'll think of something," Emily assured in a soft voice.

Victoria raised her head and looked into the captivating eyes of her wife. "I…I love you." She leaned in towards her corpse bride and gently brushed her lips against Emily's cold, blue ones. They tasted sweet and cool, like how every child imagines how snow would taste upon first seeing it.

Emily was taken aback by Victoria's display of affection. At a loss for words, she just brought her skeletal hand up and brushed some of Victoria's wild, brown hair behind her ear. A tender smile graced Emily's lips, but it was quickly hidden under Victoria's lips as she kissed the corpse bride again.

"_Oh, how mushy…,_" the maggot in Emily's head jokingly complained.


	9. How to Kill a Woman in 30 Seconds

**A/N: **Hey, guys. For those of you who actually read this chapter, let me just say that I am terribly sorry for the...INCREDIBLY long waiting period. I went back and read over this story, and I'm not sure that I like it that much anymore, but I will try to make it better and more detailed from this chapter on. Apparently, from the amount of favourite alerts I got, you guys like it...so I hope that you'll pace with me and keep reading. As far as more updates go, I'm not making any promises because my life tends to change a lot anymore...and I usually never have the time or I'm always busy with relatives or I'm just being a teenager out with my friends or my girlfriend. So, I'm going to apologize in advance for that. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this (hopefully) more detailed and better written chapter. Reviews are welcome! (: Be polite, though! D:

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Victoria Everglot sat alone in a darkened alleyway in the Land of the Dead. A look around her revealed nothing but makeshift wooden coffins, cracked pavement, and the stone walls of buildings cluttered with cobwebs. A soft, yellow light pooled upon the grief-stricken woman, turning her pale features dark with shadow as she cast her head down, studying the faint lines of the ground. Her tumbling brown locks fell in her face as she shook her head with a small sigh. Her dress was ripped and torn in multiple places, dirt smudged her pretty face, and she was sure that she was never going to get her hair untangled ever again in her life…or after life, for that matter. The day's events all had come crashing down on her when she'd been left alone by her corpse bride.

Emily had only left Victoria's side when Elder Gutknecht had insisted on speaking with her in private. The Everglot girl had been forced to bite her tongue and hold in her pain as she watched her wife hesitantly follow the frail, skeletal man into the back of The Ball & Socket, constantly looking back at her. Now, the normally put together woman sat in a heap on the back stoop of the club of the living dead, looking an utter mess and feeling about the same.

Victoria's small frame shook with a silent sob as she brought her hands up to cover her face. "I'm…too late to help you, Victor. I'm…sorry…" She let her arms move to clutch her stomach as she folded over onto herself in sheer emotional pain. Her face contorted as she tried to keep her composure…or what was left of it, anyway. Her pain only lifted slightly when she heard the muffled voice of her wife coming from inside of The Ball & Socket. Victoria lifted her head, and began to shuffle to her feet; a small smile daring to show itself on her ashen face. The wooden door into the kitchen of the club groaned quietly as Victoria peeked through a small crack.

"…She had just run off, without saying a word!" Emily had explained in a concerned tone, wringing her skeletal hand and her fleshy, blue hand together. "Are all women like this? I know that I was _supposed _to marry a _man_, but I feel like that would just complicate things. I love Victoria, I really do. However, I can't help but wonder if I'm the best thing for her. Maybe that's just me getting post-marital cold feet, though? Ugh! Are all _marriages _like this?"

"Well, I'm afraid none of 'em go over very smoothly," the stout, blue chef named Miss Plum explained with an understanding look over her shoulder at the tall and slender corpse. She hastily wiped down a dirty cooking utensil with a rag that looked to be about the same composition in filth. "Every spouse I've ever seen always seem to get something stuck in their heads, and then you can't do a damn thing with 'em!" she exclaimed as she quickly pulled a sharpened butcher's knife out of her cooking partner's head. He made a small grunt of exertion, but quickly recovered, and then they both went back to what they'd been doing beforehand.

Emily jumped a little in shock as Elder Gutknecht suddenly appeared behind her with a very large, dusty volume in his small, skeletal hands. His brow was knitted together in a somewhat worried, but still professional look. The corpse bride needed to know what he had to tell her, no matter how much it hurt her, but that didn't mean he didn't care about the young girl. Everyone in the Land of the Living cared for her as a daughter, sister, or even granddaughter. Still, though…business came first.

"My dear, we need to talk…" he sighed as he set his heavy burden down onto one of many kitchen counters in the room.

The green maggot from inside Emily's head was resting on the open page of the book. "L-Let me tell her! P-Please, let me tell her!" he begged, a grin fixed upon his features. An evil giggle managed to escape from his throat as he raised his eyes up to his blue host.

Emily turned to face them both, giving the maggot a hard glare. "What? Tell me what?" she asked worriedly.

"There is a…complication…with your marriage," Gutknecht explained, hesitantly meeting the eyes of the girl.

"I-I don't understand…" Emily choked out, her eyes widening. In the back of her mind, she registered that if her heart had been beating, she was sure it'd be beating out of her chest now. A tightness that she wasn't accustomed to feeling anymore slithered its way down her throat and coiled itself around her insides, squeezing with all of its might.

"The vows are binding _only _until death do you part."

"What are you saying?" Emily asked quietly, hanging her head. She already knew, but wanted to hear him say it for himself; to make it real.

"Death has already parted you…"

Emily jumped back with a gasp, surprised at how much just hearing him actually speak the words she'd been dreading had hurt her. "If she finds out, she'll leave me," she fretted, balling her hands up into fists against her still, blue chest. "There must be something you can do!" she cried, taking a few steps towards the skeleton and continuing to wring her hands together.

"Well…there is _one _way," Elder Gutknecht revealed, swatting his hand down slowly at the irksome maggot who was practically begging to tell Emily the solution. "It requires the greatest sacrifice."

"Go on…! Get to the good part!" the maggot urged.

"What is it?" Emily asked, quickly becoming irritated with her friend and just wanting to know what she could do to keep her wife.

"We have to kill her!" the maggot cheered exuberantly, looking up at his host with a malicious joy.

"What?" Emily gasped, taken aback.

Victoria took a step back from the door, her heart pounding furiously against her ribcage. She let a small trickle of breath pass over her lips to calm herself before stepping back to view what happened next.

"Victoria would have to give up the life she had forever…" Elder Gutknecht spoke softly, not wanting to upset the bride any further. He swatted at the maggot again as it let out another laugh. "He would need to repeat his vows in the land of the living, and then drink from the Wine of Ages."

Emily drew a sharp intake of breath before spinning around and staring hopelessly into the flames of the oven. "Poison…" she breathed as her fingers curled into fists once more.

"This would stop her heart forever. Only then would she be free to give it to you," the skeleton said, walking from where he stood to stand beside the distraught woman.

"I could _never_ ask that of her," Emily cried as she dropped to her knees on the stone floor of the kitchen, not even wincing at the pain that would've normally shot up her legs. She hung her head and closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the tattered blue ringlets that fell into her face, serving as a reminder to the fact that she was dead and Victoria was not.

"You don't have to," Victoria spoke up as she walked into the rather large kitchen. Emily gasped as she looked into the eyes of her wife, gauging if she was serious or not. "I'll do it," Victoria assured the corpse as she moved to stand in front of her. She gave a small smile to her beloved before turning to Gutknecht as he began speaking.

"My dear girl, if you choose this path, you may never return to the world above. Do you understand?" he asked.

Victoria drew in a steadying breath before replying. She outstretched her hand towards her wife, who gladly took it with a smile and rose slowly to her feet. Victoria smiled back and moved closer towards her bride to wrap an arm delicately around Emily's slender waist. "I do," she whispered.


End file.
